Bismarck weekly tribune., 1887-12-16
SARDINE INDUSTRY,
HOW NiMBLE FINGERS FIX THE LIT.
TIE FIST, FOR MARKET.

A Secondary Industry which Grew Out
Of Herring Fishing - Scenes at the
Weirs-The Faotories-Cutting, 'sFlak-
Ing Frying" and Packing. st;s $..@,,.
Aside from the pleasure one finds in study
ing the incidents of herring fishing and the
lives and ways Of herring fishers there is ex.
traordinary interest attaching to the great
secondary industry growing out of herring
fishing itself. Years ago the millions Of us
living away from this little reach Of shore
but speck upon the enormous distances Of
American and Canadian coast line-had no
better notion of the behring's importance to
the affairs Of life than that gained from
glimpses into unsavory tubs of picked her
ring, or the pungcnt aroma asserting the
presenc9of the knotty pine box of smoked
herring, in the wonderfully miscellaneous
corner groceries Of our youthtide What
ever and however large that trade formerly
was, 1t has almost disappeared. In place of
it has come one of tremendous Importance, Of
which there is no general knowledge what
ever. :
At Eastport, Lewis Cove, Robertson, La-
bee, Pembroke, Southwest Harbor, Jones'
port, Mill Bridge and Cutler are located be-
tween thirty and forty Of these sardine fac
tories. They employ, or partially employ,
from 2, 600 to 5000 hands from the middle Of
April to the middle of December. Every fac
tory is located on the Maine co ,st,!ise shore,
in Maine on the shores OF Cobscook, Penn
broke and Passamaquoddy bays, or upon the
Maine shore of the st. Croix.
SCENES AT THE wEIRs.
Here, then, is the herring fishers home,
and his market at home While the latter
gives an ever changing reward, it is never
changing itself, and the fisher after all, regu-
lates his own compensation. If the .catches
are bountiful he will sell cheaply, but never
for less than profit. If they are light he
often secures exorbitant compensation, for
the competition is always brisk, and the fac
tories must be kept running. In the year all
this, as to fisher and factory, adjusts itself
fairly enough Each factory has it's "boat-
men," These men, who principally live at
Eastport and Lubec, are graduate quoddy
fishers. They have their quoddy boats and
crews, and their duties are to scurry about
among the weirs and keep their factories sup
piled with herring at the lowest possible price,
but always supplied.
Wherever factories are located old and
young are employed without distinction in
the various processes Of the work. Regular
employment "by the day" is furnished to but
few, nearly all the labor being done ''by the
piece" The arrival Of the herring sloops at
all hours of the day and night-for the
"catches" and consequent buying of the her
ring are dependent on the ever changing tide
is announced by the shrill whistle of the
factory. Then the hamlet, which is at every
other hour an apparently deserted village,
seems suddenly repopulated. From every
quarter, and almost from miles away, sud-
denly appear erst invisible hosts. The place
seems bewitched and as though all it's folk
were mad. Half dressed, frowsy women, bold,
bad boys and the saucest, handsomest bare
legged girls you ever beheld, all join in wild
endeavcr for precedence. AS if by magic
the old shed of factory swarms with pant
ing racers and resounds with the hum of
voices and the merry chatter and clamor Of
welcome toll. From the sloops the herrings
are unloaded by rope and tackle upon the
wharves, one basket at a time, tally" being
kept by both the boatman and the ''boss' of
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